Until You

Chapter Four

Ethan made a fist and pounded lightly on the door that stood locked before him, guilt from the evening before plaguing him. He knew he should not have left the strange woman alone with Elizabeth, not only because he worried for Elizabeth's safety with a stranger, but especially because it was cruel of him to have dumped a child on her like that without stopping to consider her health at the time. She had endured a tough day and a robbery, and he had gone and worsened the situation by forcing her to endure a tough night with a rather...difficult child.

Ethan had not been thinking at the time. All he had thought of was the opportunity to finally catch up with time lost caring for Elizabeth. He needed to sleep and the second he thought the stranger had things under control, he snuck out of the room and went to bed. His fatigue was no excuse for his cruelty, but at the time, it seemed logical.

Fully expecting the door to be pulled open to reveal the red head with brown eyes, he was disappointed after a few minutes of standing there, finding himself still staring at the firmly closed door. Perhaps she had decided to run off? Not that he could blame her, he thought, as he made his way down the hallway, because Elizabeth was a handful. Indeed, all it took for any woman who had the misfortune of having to care for her to run off was a few nights with her. He supposed now that the stranger was gone, he could focus on finding a nanny for Elizabeth. This time, he might even put out a newspaper advertisement. If he didn't find a proper nanny, then he would have no other choice but to find Juliet.

The mere thought of Juliet left a bitter taste in his mouth. But what choice did he have? He had an infant who barely ate, cried all the time, and simply would not fall asleep. When she did manage to fall asleep, she cried herself to it. He was simply desperate; desperate enough to comb London and the entire England if he had to, in order to find Juliet and drag her back here to care for Elizabeth until she was grown enough to live without her unreliable mother!

He rubbed his forehead, pushing the door to the nursery open – he might as well see to Elizabeth's care this morning. He stepped into the room, his gaze searching briefly for a sign of his daughter. He didn't have to search for long. Lying flat on her back with Elizabeth on her chest, was the missing stranger.

Relief flooded his body, a loud sigh drifting from his lips at the sight of her. He could barely believe his luck at her decision to stay, and so much more than her decision to stay was her decision to stay with Elizabeth.

Slowly, he began making his way toward the two females who lay sleeping on the carpet. The woman had her arms around Elizabeth, as if to keep the infant from falling off, her cheek resting slightly against Elizabeth's head as she lay sleeping.

Ethan knew that standing there and staring at the stranger as she slept with his child was probably an odd thing to do, but once again, he found it nearly impossible to turn away from her. The swellings seemed to have eased and the cut from the morning before had obviously been cleaned by a maid. Her red eyelashes rested comfortably on her cheeks as her eyelids stood shut, the rest of her fiery red hair sprawled on the gold patterned carpet. Tiny freckles congregated around her nose area, and her rosy lips were parted slightly for her soft snores to escape.

He thought of her decision to stay with Elizabeth, even sacrificing her comfort for the little baby, and in that second, Ethan found himself desperate to have her stay on as Elizabeth's nanny. Perhaps he could offer her the job? He wasn't certain of what she was doing in London, but her accent when they spoke the evening before told him she was an American. He imagined she had only just arrived in London and hoped she was in need of a job, because heaven knew he was desperately in need of a nanny.

~*~

The persistent cries of a child pulled Gretchen out of her slumber. With a hand placed on her forehead in a useless attempt to still the headache that was now speedily rising, she pushed herself to a sitting position, her gaze scanning the unfamiliar room in confusion. Blurry images of white walls, white ceiling, and white curtains filled her eyes. She continued to scan the room until her eyes fell on the source of the noise; a naked infant and the tensed back of a visibly frustrated woman in black.

Finally remembering where she was and more than that, what she was doing here, she pushed herself to her feet and waited for a few seconds for the image before her to stop spinning.

"Oh, good morning, miss. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to awaken you but Elizabeth is having a sour morning as always."

Gretchen turned from the unfamiliar woman to the wailing child who now had on a diaper as she lay on the changing table. Elizabeth, she thought, finally remembering the child's name, even if she decided then that she preferred her own made-up name; it was close enough to Elizabeth and could even be said to be the shortened version.

"What's the matter, Ellie?" she cooed, turning to the child. Lifting her off of the changing table, she pulled her close and wrapped her arms around her, before planting a kiss on her raven hair.

"As always, nothing. Elizabeth is just one really cheeky child," the young woman hissed, making her way to where Gretchen stood with a dress for Elizabeth in her hands. She took the baby from Gretchen and began dressing her. "Lord Williams wants you to join him for breakfast. I'll see to the rest of Miss Elizabeth's needs for the rest of the morning. Of course getting her to eat is where the problem lies."

Gretchen frowned at the brunette with quite a mouth on her. "She's not that bad."

"You're right." She turned to Gretchen. "She's worse, which explains why her mother felt the need to dump her on our doorstep. With a runaway bride and a cheeky baby, Lord Williams is simply the most unlucky man in all of England," the maid declared, causing Ellie's cries to intensify.

Shocked and terribly upset, Gretchen walked over to her and snatched the baby from her hands. "Well, that is enough!" She faced the woman, deciding in that second that she didn't like her. "How dare you treat a baby so poorly?!" she half yelled. "Sure, she's a handful," she hugged Ellie to herself, "but, there could be a reason for that. Perhaps she hates milk?! And a mother who would abandon such an angel? She's the demon! Now, if you'll excuse us." She turned around sharply, completely annoyed as she began making her way to the door and paused before it, turning back to face the woman. "Do pass the message to Ellie's father... Williams, is it? Mr. Williams?" When the woman didn't respond to her question, choosing instead to maintain her position across the room, glaring at Gretchen, she turned and pulled the door wide open. "Have him know that Elizabeth and I will be joining him shortly."

It was a few more minutes before the woman straightened and without a word, began marching toward the door that Gretchen held open.

"While you're at it, have a plate made for Ellie as well. I have a feeling she might not exactly like milk. There is also a possibility that you have somehow contributed to the child's refusal to eat with so many horrid references to her and her mother. I know I already feel constipated having to stand here and listen to you!" she huffed, before slamming the door in her face.

Heaving a loud breath, she leaned heavily against the door as she rocked the sobbing child in her arms.

Now what?

The stranger – Mr. Williams – had been kind enough to accommodate her in his home and even extend an invitation to breakfast, but she didn't think she had the right to keep imposing on his kindness, even if she had nowhere else to go.

Her stomach growled, interrupting her thoughts with the reminder of her excruciating hunger.

Releasing a loud breath, she straightened. Perhaps there wasn't much left for her in London? Perhaps it was best to have breakfast and find a way to pay for her passage back to America.